Vaughan's Vocabulary

I listen to “The Puzzle” on National Public Radio almost every Sunday morning at 7:40 a.m. On June 17 Will Shortz announced, “In honor of Rachel [Martin, Weekend Edition’s anchor], who is about to go on maternity leave, every answer is a word, phrase or name starting with B, ending in Y and having an AB inside, although not necessarily consecutively.” An anesthesiologist from Missouri, the one selected to play the puzzle, could not think of the answer to “Herman Melville story, _____, the Scrivener.”

Martin was flabbergasted that she was able to fill in the blank. “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street,” is a short story that was published in 1853. Thanks Martin and Shortz for bringing it to my attention. I’m giving it a good read, enjoying it, and pulling some words from it for this week’s quiz in Vaughan’s Vocabulary.

Shortz added a syllable to scrivener. “SCRIV-nur” is how to say it. A is the answer. The pronunciation “in-di-CORE-us” is acceptable, but saying it that way can be mistaken for “in the chorus.” All four apply to No. 2.

3. imprimis (em-PRY-mis)
A. in the first place
B. not practical
C. to write
D. to allocate